Volume 5 Chapter 0073 The Skirt of the Goddess of Luck - I, The Dragon Overlord

In an ancient era, one predating even the Era of Catastrophes, approximately 100,000 years ago according to the timeline of the world of San Soliel, there existed a goddess known as the 'Goddess of Fortune.' This powerful deity encountered a calamity involving the Goddess of Dawn, resulting in her being split into two entities—the Goddesses of Luck and Misfortune. Despite being divided, this did not equate to the goddess's death; rather, for a deity, it meant becoming two separate divine beings. In that ancient era, the Goddesses of Luck and Misfortune, though pure sisters, held diametrically opposed domains and were in constant opposition. Their relationship was akin to that of the Silver Moon Goddess, Selune, and the Night Goddess, Shar. Within the divine realm, sibling harmony was exceedingly rare, with most succumbing to the inherent conflict of their divine roles. Because the Goddesses of Luck and Misfortune were bifurcated from a single powerful deity, both were of intermediate divine power with an instinctive desire to annihilate the other and reunify into a greater power. However, their strengths were evenly matched, rendering them unable to decisively overcome each other over the span of time. These two ancient goddesses eventually perished in the Age of Cataclysms, leaving behind their divine portfolios heavily marked by their presence. Successors needed to fulfill a stringent criterion to inherit these divine roles: they had to be twin siblings. The path to demigodhood was fraught with peril, with few exceptions like Alexia, a natural-born demigod. Others, like the red dragon Novillier, endured endless hardships for thousands of years to achieve demigod status. Even Louie's second daughter, Aurora, despite her divine lineage, could easily reach legendary status but could not merge divinity to become a demigod solely on that basis. Under these circumstances, the likelihood of twins simultaneously achieving demigodhood was exceedingly slim. Yet, in the thirty millennia following the Cataclysmic Era, where gods were absent and demigods marked the pinnacle of mortal potential, such twin demigods did emerge. After the awakening of the gods and the shifting world order, these twin sisters aspired to godhood, choosing divine roles with minimal competition and the highest personal success probability—those of 'Luck' and 'Misfortune.' Similar to how few contested the portfolio of the Goddess of Wealth, 'Luck' and 'Misfortune,' being dyadic portfolios, could only be claimed by a handful of demigods across the world of San Soliel. Ultimately, the sisters fortified their foundations and successfully attained godhood. This, however, introduced a grave problem. The inherent opposition between divine portfolios transcended the familial bonds of mortal blood. While they might have been close prior to deification, after becoming gods, the opposition of 'Luck' and 'Misfortune' led them to utterly forget their mortal kinship. This is the essence of divinity: the embodiment of certain concepts. Thus began a new era of enmity between the once-sisterly deities, each striving to destroy the other and reclaim the divine power of fortune. In pursuit of this, they even adopted the names of the original Goddesses of Luck and Misfortune, Tymora and Beshaba, facilitating a quicker mastery of their divine powers, with the faster ascension increasing the likelihood of defeating the other. Louie's decision to target the Goddess of Misfortune stemmed not only from her unpopularity among the gods but also due to the current Goddess of Luck, Tymora, being affiliated with the Goddess of Love and Beauty, Shuni, and residing in the 'Domain of Bright Waters.' As a chaotic good entity, the Goddess of Luck was not only graceful, kind, and friendly but also quite passionate. Given that Louie was the only regular male godly guest in 'Domain of Bright Waters', it was only natural that he had seen the smile of the Goddess of Luck and even lifted her skirts. If Louie were mortal, such intimacy with the Goddess of Luck would likely have bestowed upon him untold fortune. Even as a god, the blessing of luck bore some benefit. Thus, Louie's decision to trouble the Goddess of Misfortune was entirely reasonable. He certainly did not wish to kill the Goddess of Misfortune, as that would allow the Goddess of Luck to acquire the misfortune domain, recreating the original 'Goddess of Fortune' as a powerful deity. Louie, like all powerful deity, shared the tacit understanding of not permitting new powerful deities to arise, lest they dilute their own dominion. Therefore, his grand scheme was simply to ensure the Goddess of Misfortune experienced misfortune herself, sufficiently embarrassing her. The weapons of the Terran civilization's warships began charging, targeting an avatar of the Goddess of Misfortune currently in the Material Plane. …… The Goddess of Misfortune was an exquisitely beautiful and wild-tempered deity, characteristics that defined both her true form and her avatars. She was uniquely drawn to wander the Material Plane, often disguising herself as her own priestess to participate in official events such as weddings, coronations, ceremonies, various competitions, and celebrations of new births. It wasn't a fondness for such lively scenes that drove her but rather a deep-seated envy, compelling her frequent excursions. As the deity governing misfortune, she was spurned by mortals and gods alike. Even her followers didn't truly revere her; they worshiped her out of fear of bringing misfortune upon themselves. Thus, her survival hinged on fear rather than genuine adoration, a precarious position for any deity, making her exceptionally envious of her sister, the Goddess of Luck, desiring similarly to be cherished by mortals. Driven by envy, the Goddess of Misfortune mandated an odd protocol for her clerics: for any major event, if there were followers of the Misfortune Church in the vicinity, they were to be invited. Should anyone fail to adhere to this, her priests were to curse them with misfortune. Nonetheless, only a few mortals truly followed the rules set by the Goddess of Misfortune. As San Soliel stood in the era of gods, all mortals had allegiances, inviting clerics of their own deities for events. No matter the strength of the Misfortune Church, it paled in comparison to the combined might of all other divine churches, often rendering mere threats of a misfortune curse moot. However, exceptions arose when the goddess herself, traveling incognito, happened upon such events uninvited. Any mortal hosting such an event without inviting a priest of Misfortune risked her real curse—a calamity from which few gods could offer protection, afflicting them with a lifetime of ill fate. This cycle perpetuated, tarnishing the reputation of the Goddess of Misfortune further. Today, her avatar graced a wedding with her presence.